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¿¿baffling??

Saturday, April 19, 2008

what a troublesome, baffling, weird week…

first things first. i generated a sort of a, let’s say, disaster...
well, marilia (my argentine friend) told me a few days ago that a friend of hers (name is luis. and is a friend of my oldest hostsis, too) told her that my oldest hostsis flor has read my diary.
thing was flor has told this certain luis that she has read my diary. luis asked her why and what for. she said that it’s because i dont talk to her and she wanted to know how i feel and what i do.
then, luis told marilia about this, asking her to promise that she wont say a thing.
apparently, marilia told me about it. she said that it seemed so unfair that someone has been reading my diary.
obviously, i couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
i WOULDN’T keep my mouth shut.
so i kept on asking marilia, insisting, that i want to confront my hostsister.
she kept on saying, ‘we’ll talk about it. we’ll talk about it.’
after 3 days of ‘we’ll talk about it’ stuff, i became sick of it.
so a couple of days ago, i asked majo about it. she told me that she doesnt believe that coz flor is not a kind of person who would stick her nose where it’s not wanted...
i told her that if that’s so then ok no prob. i was just asking and that she doesnt have to tell flor about it.
then, one day, marilia told me that luis told her that flor has sent him a message cursing him with every swear word possible...
the thing was majo sent flor a message asking if she has read my diary or what. then, flor confronted luis coz he was the only person who knows... then luis told marilia...
it was a freaking chain.
now, everything’s fine.
i mean, im still so freaking annoyed that someone has read my diary. and im freaking annoyed at myself coz it was very foolish of me to write my diary entries in spanish.
i mean, i already have two diaries.
the first one was written in english.
the second one is already in spanish.
and i freaking dont have any idea which of these two diaries has been read...
so, now, im writing everything in english again.
geez...
when marilia told me about this stuff, flor was with her father in aguilares.
when flor put all the blame to luis, she was still in aguilares.
then, when she came back home, she just greeted me ‘hola’ like she did nothing wrong.
fine.
as long as i know that i havent done anything wrong to them, im cool.
at least, it was her who did something wrong.
i already shared it to someone from AFS.
and nope, im not going to change host families.
i mean, i’ve got less than 3 months left. im not going to change families. never. besides, flor treats me better now. i mean, maybe it’s because she knows that she has done something unacceptably wrong...
that’s cool.

okay.
so im getting along really well with the exchange students who arrived last february. it’s like we’re going out every single day...
last day, majo sort of gave me a curfew...
that was like ‘is that you??’
i cant blame her though. i mean, im so having a blast with my argentine life that i totally use the argentine culture to my advantage. i mean, they dont have any curfews here. you can be out and about at 3 in the morning and no one’s going to say anything.
so a couple of days ago, i was out with the other exchange students and i went home at around 30 minutes past midnight...
i was in the bus when i received majo’s message.
it was in ALLCAPS.
translating the message in english, it says “where the hell are you? what are you thinking? i want you home right now. you have 20 minutes. hurry up.”
cant blame her though. i mean, it was actually a weekday... and i have classes the following morning.
yeah. what was i thinking??
the truth was i wasnt thinking. i mean, 8 months of total cultural immersion!
so the next day when i told her that im going out with the exchange students again, she gave me a curfew.
10:30.
that was like sooooooo early here in argentina. i mean, back in the philippines i cant even stay later than 8!!! geeeeez.........
but here, 10:30 is absolutely early to go home. people meet up at around 7...
but that’s fine. i went home at exactly 10:30. the others went home at that time too! so everything was cool.

i’ve got heaps of relatives from all over the world!!!!
an argentine mom and two argentine sisters (my hostfam)
a german sister, rebecca.
an austrian brother, sebastian.
an australian ‘father’, lawrence.
another argentine sister, marilia.
and as of this moment, i’ve been invited to many countries...
if only i am rich...
im going to travel the world.
i WILL travel the world.

sometimes, when lawrence and simon talk, i want to tie them up and drop them in an underground sewer...
why?
geeez!! when they talk, i was like ‘was that even english????’
i mean, their accents are sooooooooooooo different. if im not paying enough attention, it would seem as if they’re speaking in some other unknown language.
the accents are just so strong.
i mean, the north american accent is just normal. keith told me that i speak with an american accent. the british accent is also normal. i can understand that. the irish accent is a bit strong. but, hell... the accents of australia and new zealand are like “ENGLISH, PLEASE??”
lawrence can speak in a normal accent. simon cannot. well, their accents are normal for them but not for me.
now, im getting used to simon’s accent. it’s like he’s not pronouncing the words completely but you get used to it...
but when those two are talking and they dont want me to know what they’re talking about, simon’s going to say ‘in australian! in australian!’, then lawrence’s accent is going to change spontaneously.
and that’s the moment when i have this urge to feed them to the sharks...
i mean, it’s english, but my brain cant recognize the words properly...
that freaking accent... and he wants me to speak with that accent!
i cant recall when was that but lawrence told me that i speak with an american accent and that he wants his ‘daughter’ to speak in australian accent...
he was like actually teaching me his accent!
but the accent is like their somewhat eating their words...
i like the accent, mind you. you can speak english but at the same time not every english speaker can understand you. but hell...
it’s english, dude, but at the same time it seems to be some foreign language from another planet!!!!
and when they have secrets, they freaking use that accent!!!!!
yeah, i understand, boy stuff and everything but i still want to feed them to the sharks... it’s english but at the same time, it’s not.
it’s just weird.
and mind you, the australian accent is stronger than that of new zealand...
i wont even call it ‘accent’. it’s like a different sort of english.
i swear.

i want to upload all of the photos that i have but the connection is not that fast and there’s just soooo much photos.
im going to upload them little by little.

this year is a year of adventure.
of surprises.
of new things.
of opportunities.
of change.
of motion.
i can surely say that this year is gradually changing me.
not exactly changing, though.
it’s just opening a part of me that i didnt know i had.

if only it’s that easy to visit argentina, like once a month or something...
or, at least, once a year...
but it’s like that.
i dont even know when i can visit my 2nd country again...
i WILL, of course. but that would be like in 10 years or more...
and it’s just sad to think about it. i spent a year. less than a year, actually. but i created my own life here. and it’s just sad to think that im not even sure if i can see the other exchange students again...
i mean, rebecca and sebastian dont have any problem with seeing each other again. hell, their countries are next to each other.
but, how about me?
a couple of days ago, sebastian was actually having his ‘dramatic mode’. we were talking on the phone and he started getting dramatic and everything. he said that what if we never see each other again... i so hate it when he does that. i mean, i dont even want to think about it yet. im surely going to cry buckets of tears on july but i still dont want to think about that.
if only it’s that easy and cheap to travel... i would be visiting them every year!! twice a year, maybe...
but it’s not like that.
they freaking live in europe!
why is it that asia seems to be the country with the least currency???
american dollars, australian dollars, new zealand dollars, euro, swiss franc, even argentine peso has a greater value than our money...
sad but true.
and there’s nothing that i can do about that.
well, unless the world turns upside down and inside out, i dont think that the philippine peso is ever going to have a value like that of the other countries...
argentina is a 3rd world country, mind you. but 1 argentine peso is equal to 12 php...
yeah, fine... japan is a 1st world country and a yen is like 2 php... so you cant judge a country’s status by its currency. but still, considering the fact that argentina is a 3rd world country... where the hell should one place the philippines????
4th world???
if that exists... yeah. i think so.
dont get me wrong. i love my country. being far from home makes you appreciate your homeland more...
and every country has its ups and downs...
just a question though...
is there a country whose monetary value is less than that of the philippines?????

till here...
i have two months and a couple of weeks left...
time flies!
it zooms...!!!
i mean, it’s as if i recently got here last september. and now, ive got two months and a few days left??
but, like what i said before i got here, when time flies it means that you’re having fun...

XOXO

9:59 AM
Y Y Y

booze

Friday, April 4, 2008

Oooookaaaaay……………..
it’s been a long time since i last posted an entry.
uber busy....
anyway, super dami na ng ikkwento ko pero im just going to summarize the events...
first, i changed schools.
from pellegrini to herman hollerith.
in pellegrini, we were 39 students jammed in a classroom half the size of the rooms in mandsci....
in hollerith, we are 12 students (3 are exchange students) in a room the size of our classrooms in mandsci...
i like my new school. in my class, we are 3 exchange students.
me, rebecca from germany, and simon from new zealand...
rebecca doesnt seem to be a german.
i mean, she doesnt even seem to be a european.
generally, (hate to overgeneralize but that’s an instinctive nature) europeans are known to be cold.
we always tease sebastian of austria that he really isnt from austria coz he’s anything but cold.
rebecca told me that she’s actually a ‘weird’ german. she doesnt smoke, doesnt like to drink a lot, doesnt have any boyfriend, doesnt f*ck around...
i mean, if you want to meet a typical german, you have to meet cedric.
your typical tall, blond, blue-eyed cutie.
simon doesnt speak spanish yet so i talk to him in english. he’s got a really strong english accent but now im getting used to it.
at first, it seemed to me that he was like speaking a different language coz his accent is so different. now, everything’s fine.
in our class, there’s a guy who can speak english very well. name is leòn. we kept on telling him to talk with simon in spanish so that the poor boy can learn. i mean, you cant survive one year without knowing spanish.
but i can understand leòn. i mean, it’s easier to talk to simon in english. i kept on speaking with him in spanish but he just looks at me and says ‘hmm... in english?’...
i mean, it really depends on the person.
if you really want to learn, you will learn.
when i just arrived here, i was talking to my hostsister with a dictionary in hand.
it’s really up to you if you want to learn.
and i swear, whether you like it or not, you have to learn.
you cant go around argentina without knowing spanish. that’s the most stupid thing to do. if you’re a tourist, go get a translator. but if you’re an exchange student, learn.
there are no options here, dude.

last Friday i went out with may (thailand), her sister natalia, lorenzo (australia), simon (NZ), kyle (USA), leòn (arg)
kyle is cute.
unfortunately he has to leave early coz he has to go to his ‘futbol’ game. (that’s soccer)
then the six of us rented a movie. lady in the water by m. night shyamalan. went to may and natalia’s house then we just fooled around...
then at around 11 in the evening, we finished watching the movie. then lorenzo asked us, i mean, he obliged us to go out.
so i sent a msg to my hostmom saying that i’ll go home late coz im with the other exchange stus.
she replied ‘ok. behave.’
hey, i always behave well...
most of the times. hehehe...
so, we went out. it was actually raining but umbrellas arent popular with the teenage crowd so we were soaking wet...
and here, if it’s raining, it’s freaking cold.
i still cant understand why umbrellas arent popular with the teen crowd. i mean, even if the sun is soooooo bright and it’s as if you’re inside a heated oven, nobody uses an umbrella...
and even if it’s pouring like the gods of the heavens are waging wars, nobody uses a freaking umbrella...
why is that so?
anyway, so we went to this bar (cant remember the name), but there wasnt any available table.
so i told them that we can go to this bar known as ‘Costumbres Argentina’.
we entered, then the menu was given to us, then we ordered vodka.
then the waitress asked us if we’ve got any documents with us. (every argentine citizen has a small passport-like booklet that shows their birthdate and every other stuff that you can think of.)
okay. the thing is the only people who are of age that moment were leòn and lorenzo. both are 18 years old. the rest of us were 17 (simon), 16 (me and natalia), and 15 (may).
leòn didnt bring his document. so the only person who has something to show was lorenzo. he showed his australian license.
then, the waitress told us that she’s going to ask the counter first because the bar has a rule that the majority of the people sitting in the table should have documents with them to be able to order alcoholic beverages.
then, after a few moments, she returned and told us that the counter wont allow her.
so we left that bar.
even though i cant understand why the counter wont let us order drinks. i mean, before the welcome party for the new students, the students who arrived last year went to that bar to ‘plan’ the party.
we were like around 12 people. and everyone was drinking.
so i dont know why the counter wouldnt let us order.
so anyway, we left that bar and we went to another.
i swear, i was like sneezing every five minutes coz it was raining and it was sooo cold.
i suggested a bar. Plaza de Almas. but we came upon another bar before we reached plaza de almas.
that moment, we had a plan...
no one’s going to speak in spanish. we’re all exchange students except for leòn, our supposed-to-be ‘consejero’ (that’s adviser in english)
natalia, may’s hostsis, can mimic may’s thai accent. so we were like, okay, where are you from???
we told her that if anyone asks her, she has to say that she’s from quebec, canada.
okay.... so we ordered. we were all speaking in english. then i heard lorenzo and natalia speak in spanish.
i mean, hey, you two were supposed to be ‘exchange stus who recently arrived’.
goodness,,,
so i ordered gancia, lorenzo ordered cosmopolitan, may ordered daikiri, simon ordered piel de iguana (translation: iguana skin... hehe... but it was delicious, really!), and leòn ordered fernet. natalia didnt order anything.
so we were talking in spanish (english with simon)
then when the waitress came to give us our drinks, the language magically switched to english.
it was such a huge joke....
okay, so it was either the plan worked or the waitress just didnt care if we were minors or what.
after that, it was already 3:30 in the morning. we just walked around the town. lorenzo and may were tipsy.
so after fooling around, we decided to go back to may and natalia’s house.
there we decided to play truth or dare.
im cutting it short. let’s just say that it wasnt anything like those truth or dare sessions that we’ve had.

last Saturday, there was a big party here in my house.
it was basically to celebrate majo’s birthday even though her bday was on march 17
i swear, parties here are so different from the parties back there.
there, parties mean food.
here, parties mean booze.
the party lasted from 11 in the evening up to 7 in the morning the next day...
ok. im cutting it short again. let’s just say that it has been totally fun.

the next day, a batchmate of majo sent me a msg that goes, ‘hi. since when do you have a boyfriend?’
i was like ‘WHO? ME? WITH WHO? WHAAAAT?’
he replied, ‘the tall guy from other country. blond and with eyeglasses.’
oooooooooooookay....................
the only one who fits that profile was simon of NZ.
what the hell. where did that come from?
obviously, i asked. the guy replied that they though that simon is my boyfriend.
obviously, i asked again why. he told me that it’s because simon kept on following me around, and we were together during the entire party, and we were dancing together throughout the night, and that we were cuddling on the sofa...
................ting............ting................ting..............
hey...! i dont have any idea why he was following me around. we were together during the party, yes... but the other exchange stus were also with us. we were dancing, yes, but i dont see anything wrong with that. and we were NOT cuddling on the sofa.
there is an explanation for that. im cutting it short again but we werent cuddling, i swear. i mean, cuddling is ‘cuddling’ and we really werent cuddling ‘cuddling’.

last Tuesday, i went to the ‘Centro de Salud’ since im a volunteer in that hospital. then, keith(USA) and I went to marilia’s house.
it was 2:30 and we were STARVING.
we started to phone home delivery pizzas and whatever that we can eat... but after 2 in the afternoon, they dont deliver lunch anymore.
so it was raining again. marilia sent keith and me to buy some burger patties.
the thing is argentina is in a crisis at this moment.
the distribution of cow products (meat, milk, cheese, everything) has been stopped. no one knows until when. so of course, burger patties are out, too.
so we just bought sausages or hotdogs.. dunno.

keith is 20yrs old. but he doesnt seem to be.
he seems to be 16 or 17 or something like that.
and i cant believe that he hasnt kissed anyone before.
i mean, he’s 20 and he’s from the USA (highland county, michigan)... it was just shocking for me.

it’s getting colder here now. i mean, winter’s approaching...

in 3 months, im going back home...
i want to go back home. really. i miss everyone...
but i also want to stay here for a while... i mean, this country is soooo pretty. (and argentina is an enormous country... for a country this big, they sure dont have a population that large...)
and i dont have any idea when i can visit it again.
i swear, im going to go back here again. this is my second country.
and im getting used to the culture.

this is getting longer... have to cut it short now.
till here!!

btw, i posted new pixx in my multiple site.

((propphi))::: gonna tell you every single detail when i go back home... i swear, 24 hrs wont be enough. mwaaaaaa.....

((constitutional rights)):: it’s been 2 months since u last phoned me. i’ve got heaps to share,,, phone me, phone me, phone me!!!! take care...

XOXO

6:05 AM
Y Y Y

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saccharine spice

[+] full-time UP Diliman BS Chemical Engineering student
[+] 50% Filipina (by citizenship) 50% Chinese (by blood)
[+] true-blue argentine kiddo
[+] bookworm
[+] mangaddicted
[+] trilingual (filipino, english, spanish)
[+] aspiring writer
[+] appreciates learning and beauty
[+] dreamer
[+] traveller at heart
[+] linguist wanna-be (at least 5 languages!)
[+] looks at the world through multicolored glasses

esteemed authors

in order as dictated by my memory

+ neil gaiman
+ michael crichton
+ sidney sheldon
+ stephen king
+ jeffery deaver
+ caleb carr
+ kathy reisch
+ christopher pike
+ chuck palahniuk
+ clive staples lewis
+ john katzenbach
+ john ronald reuel tolkien
+ anne rice
+ peter beere
+ heather graham
+ richie tankersley cusick
+ ian fleming
+ chris wooding
+ patricia cornwell
+ mary higgins clark
+ stephen coonts
+ vladimir nabokov
+ agatha christie
+ robert lawrence stine
+ dean koontz
+ john grisham
+ jonathan kellerman
+ paulo coehlo
+ roald dahl
+ lewis carroll
+ sir james matthew barrie
+ frank baum
+ mark twain
+ michael connelly
+ arthur conan doyle
+ edgar allan poe
+ piers anthony
+ clive barker
+ tamora pierce
+ mary wollstonecraft shelley
+ bram stoker
+ dan brown
+ edith wharton
+ sue grafton
+ william blatty

anime/manga

as far as i can recall, these are the animes/mangas that i've read and/or watched. currently still incomplete. blame my memory.

[] one piece
[] battle royale
[] get backers
[] death note
[] bleach
[] ouran highschool host club
[] gatekeepers
[] blood +
[] black cat
[] fushigi yuugi
[] ayashi no ceres
[] full metal panic
[] full metal alchemist
[] fruits basket
[] flame of recca
[] spiral
[] shuffle!
[] slamdunk
[] tactics
[] fate stay night
[] ultra maniac
[] tsubasa chronicle
[] evangelion
[] elfen lied
[] escaflowne
[] ghost hunt
[] elemental gelade
[] detective conan
[] darker than black
[] DNangel
[] gakuen alice
[] gakuen heaven
[] chobits
[] gundam seed/wing/destiny
[] gunslinger girl
[] dot hack SIGN
[] dot hack legend of the twilight
[] harukanaru toki no naka de
[] hayate no gotoku
[] hunter x hunter
[] inuyasha
[] kyou kara maou
[] hana yori dango
[] hanazakari no kimitachi e
[] zombie-loan
[] vampire knight
[] loveless
[] yuyu hakusho
[] you're under arrest
[] yami no matsuei
[] wolf's rain
[] xxxholic
[] weiss kreuz
[] naruto
[] prince of tennis
[] rosario + vampire
[] saiyuki
[] pretear
[] shaman king
[] special A
[] B.O.D.Y.
[] koukou debut
[] kimi wa petto
[] boku ni natta watashi
[] codebreaker
[] lost+brain
[] doubt
[] eternal sabbath
[] luck stealer
[] number
[] liar game
[] kyou koi wo hajimemasu
[] deadman wonderland
[] mirai nikki [future diary]
[] saboten no himitsu
[] koizora
[] majin tantei nougami neuro
[] 07ghost
[] camelot garden
[] blank slate
[] beast master
[] pandora hearts
[] [switch]
[] kuroshitsuji
[] d.gray-man
[] wild ones
[] trinity blood

nexus

propphi anne fernando